By My Life or Death
by Wingleader Sora Jade
Summary: For sailormoonshadow's 01 story contest. TK and Kari are seperated from the others and Machinedramon attacks. TK gets hurt protecting Kari, and she asks why he did it. Kawaii li'l TK/Kari friendship fic.


By My Life or Death  
by WSJ  
  
Urg... I was getting nowhere with my other story, so I'm going to enter this one instead. Hope you don't mind sailormoonshadow! ^_^   
  
I don't own Digimon.  
  
Summery: Kawaii li'l TK/Kari friendship. Takes place during the time where the group was split, Kari got sick and then Machinedramon attacked. Remember when TK and Kari were in the sewers, and Sora found them? Well, what if Sora didn't find them? Has a bit of Sora/Matt friendship, cause I had to figure out where she was if she wasn't with them.  
  
Kawaii-chan: Are you ever gonna get to the story?  
  
Not if you keep yapping!  
  
()()()()()  
  
"Do humans always sleep this long?"  
  
"Well I don't, but sometime Matt did on Saturdays."  
  
Kari groaned and rolled over, after having been awoken by the voices that had since fallen silent.  
  
"Kari?" one of the two voices asked.  
  
The eight-year-old blinked and opened her eyes to see four more staring down at her. All four were blue, but one pair were larger then the other. It was then she also became aware of a weight on her stomach. She blinked again and recognised the faces, as well as the weight.  
  
"Gatomon, get off my tummy."  
  
The white cat jumped down as TK helped her sit up. He felt her forehead and smiled.  
  
"Fever's gone."  
  
The three heard the flapping sound at the same time, and TK stood up from where he'd been kneeling by Kari as the winged Digimon settled into his arms. "Did you find anyone?"  
  
Patamon shot an irritated look at his partner. "Does it look like I did?"  
  
"I'll take that as a no." the blond said, frowning.  
  
"What should we do now? Kari asked, standing up and looking around the sewer tunnel they were housed in.  
  
"Anyone who votes for looking for the others raise your hand and/or paw." Gatomon said, and three apendages were raised.  
  
"What's wrong Patamon?" Kari asked, scratching the orange batpig behind the ears as she would Gatomon.  
  
Patamon furrowed his brows and frowned. "I just went looking for them, and I didn't find *anyone*. I think we're on our own. I found a crack that could be a way out. We should get out of here, and then maybe head back to the forest to look for Mimi and Joe." he said. They were quiet for a moment.  
  
TK, Patamon and Gatomon were startled by a sniff and they looked up at Kari, who had a single tear finding its was down her cheek, and her crimson eyes ready to release more. "What will I do," she whispered, as if she didn't even realize the others were standing there. "Without Tai to protect me, and tell me stories, and convince me that everything will be all right?"  
  
She looked like she was going to burst into full-fledged hysterics when TK put Patamon down and placed his hand on her shoulder. She looked up, tears still streaming down her face. TK's eyes were hard, yet at the same time warm. His mouth was set in a firm line and his golden bangs flopped into his face. "I'm here Kari. You'll be safe, and we'll find Tai and Matt again real soon. I promise. When Matt was leaving he told me not to be afraid because he's always watching over me, and he's never very far away. I don't know where Tai is at the moment, so now Matt has to look after both of us. But I'm here."  
  
Gatomon looked up at Kari with a solemn expresion in her usually serene ocean-colored eyes. There was no smile on her face but all the same she did not look cruel or hate filled, but instead like she had just made an important decision then had lain unattended or ignored in the back of her mind. Kari kneeled down to take the Digimon in her arms, but Gatomon backed away and instead placed a gloved paw on top of Kari's own hand. "By my life or death, I swear I'll protect you Kari."  
  
TK nodded, glad Gatomon had found words to express what he was trying to say. "That goes double for me!"  
  
Patamon looked like he approved, and gently glided down to land on her shoulder. "And I too. You're my partner's best friend, and I extend my protection to you as well. No harm will come to you with us around."  
  
With that said the four headed toward the crack that Patamon had mentioned.  
  
~*~  
  
Machinedramon had the feeling he had just witnessed some sort of formal ceremony, or at the very least missed something rather important because of the fact that that stupid WaruMonzemon had yet to fix the volume on the spycams in his area. The Dark Master growled in frustrasion, but his metalic scowl turned into a soft cry of delight as he realized where the two children and their good-for-nothing Digimon were headed. Still chuckling, but trying to be as quiet as possible lest they hear him, Machinedramon turned to face the crack identical to the one they were headed toward that lay in the corner of his control room.  
  
~*~  
  
Sora looked over at her companion as they continued to wander aimlessly, trying to find the others. Biyomon looked back at her.  
  
"So you have no clue where we're going? None at all?" she asked the pink bird.  
  
Biyo shook her head. "None. If this was outside, maybe. But I've never been in this area before, let alone down here."  
  
The holder of love sighed. "Then we're screwed, aren't we..."  
  
"Pretty much..."  
  
The two continued on in silence for a few minutes. It seemed they had crossed some sort of boundery since they had started the march. Instead of round pipes leading to bigger round pipes, they were now in what appeared to be a huge cavern, with a maze of pillars beginning at their feet and stretching way over their heads and into what Sora assumed was the ceiling, since it was really too far up for her to see.  
  
As she was craning her neck around and gazing at their new surroundings, Biyomon pulled on her shirt. Sora blinked and was about to ask what she wanted when the bird put a finger to her lips and pointed ahead of them. Sora strained her eyes in the semi-darkness and saw a figure, no, two behind a pillar and peeking around it at something on the other side.  
  
She and Biyomon slowly snuck up behind them until they were close enough to recognise them. "Oh no way..." Sora whispered. She then leaned over to one side to see what the two were looking at and sure enough, TK, Kari and their Digimon were disappearing into a tunnel a few dozen yards away, on the other side of the cave.  
  
She grinned mischeiviously and put her hand on the guy's shoulder, and with a muffled shreik he spun around, eyes huge. Sora laughed so hard at the expresion on his face she had to sit down or else she would have fallen down.  
  
Matt gave her a look. "What are you doing here?" he asked.  
  
"Looking for the others. We all got seperated." she answered whiping her eyes and standing up.  
  
He gestured at the tunnel TK and Kari had disappeared down. "I kind of noticed."  
  
"So you've been following us around and haven't bothered to help!?! Give me a break Matt! You and Tai are the only ones who can go Mega! You could've given us a hand!" she said, her anger flashing.  
  
Matt shook his head. "No, I've been watching over TK. I couldn't help. You wouldn't understand..." As was typical of him, he changed the subject. "You should have seen the speech he just gave Kari." Matt actually smiled at the memory. Then he suddenly blinked as sounds of a fight echoed down the tunnel and a golden light washed the cave so it was bright as day for an instant.  
  
"Aw kuso! TK! Kari!" Matt and Gabumon took off down the tunnel, Sora and Biyomon right on their heels.  
  
~*~  
  
TK and Kari looked at the crack Patamon had found. "It's gonna be a tight fit..." TK noted. The others nodded.  
  
"I'm going first." Patamon said simply, and he flew through the crack, TK, Gatomon, and finally Kari right behind him. Very unfortunately, they didn't emerge above ground, as they'd hoped, or even in another sewer tunnel, as they'd half expected, but instead into a huge room with a super computer covering all of one wall.  
  
But they really didn't notice that at first, since Machinedramon happened to be staring them in the face. With a yelp TK pulled Kari behind some boxes and Patamon grabbed Gatomon, flying them out of the way of the quick shots the Dark Master had fired off.  
  
TK pushed Kari down onto the floor behind the boxes and threw himself over top of her as debris flew from the explosion. He yelled in pain as a shard of red hot rock managed to find its way into his shoulder. "Are you alright TK?" Kari asked fearfully, her eyes shining with unshed tears of terror.  
  
'I have to be brave! It hurts, but Kari's counting on me to be brave!' "Yeah, I'm fine Kari." But he didn't fail to notice the possition of the wound in his shoulder. If he hadn't been on top of her, that rock would have gone strait into her heart.  
  
"Patamon!" he yelled, still on top of Kari, protecting her from any more debris or attacks.   
  
"You got it TK! Patamon, Digi-Volve to... Angemon!"  
  
"Gatomon, you too!"  
  
"Gatomon, DigiVolve to... Angewomon!"  
  
TK sat up, careful to keep his front to Kari, and let her sit up as well. To his surprise (and at the moment, dismay) Kari launched herself at him and gave him a giant hug. "Thank you so much TK! You saved me!"  
  
TK writhed a bit and yelped as her hand came in contact with the shard in his shoulder, twisting it and pushing it in farther. Kari looked at him in horror as she pulled her hand back and saw the blood on it. She made him turn around and he heard her gasp as she saw the wound.  
  
Without any warning whatsoever she grabbed the sliver of stone and yanked it out, making him scream in protest. She told him to take off his shirt and he looked at her over his shoulder.  
  
"You're kidding me, right?"  
  
(Remember, they're eight-nine year olds in this. TK would have thought that was 'icky'.)  
  
The look on Kari's face told him she wasn't and he laberously got it off, whimpering whenever it caused him to move his injured shoulder, which was still bleeding pretty freely. He knocked his hat off in the process and shook out his hair.  
  
"Hold still." Kari said from behind him. He heard a ripping sound and craned his neck to look over his shoulder. He saw Kari ripping strips from her dress. She instrcted him to hold his arm strait out, which he did, and she bandaged the wound as best she could, using the last three strips to put his arm in a make-shift sling. When there weren't quite enough to bandage it 'adiquately' she grabbed his green shirt, and after a nod from TK, ripped several strips off of it as well.  
  
While they had been doing all this they hadn't really been paying attention to the battle, but now turned their full awareness onto it. As they turned to face it, they were surprised to see Garudamon and MetalGarurumon kicking his can, with assistance from Angemon and Angewomon.  
  
When TK had been hurt Angemon had instantly known, and was now glowing a soft golden color.   
  
"Angemon, DigiVolve to... MagnaAngemon."  
  
The two children stared in awe at the new Ultimate. "Gate of Destiny." He swung his sword around and opened a portal, after first making sure the others were out of the way of course. Machinedramon dug his feet into the ground, determined not to be destroyed. Of course, he didn't see Garudamon behind him as she delivered the kick to his rear that sent him into oblivian.  
  
As the Digimon began to revert back to their In-Training forms, or in Gatomon's case, Rookie, Matt and Sora came sprinting over, horrified to see the blood on Kari's hands and the bloody stone lying next to TK.  
  
"TK! TK! Are you all right?" asked the older brother, nearly insane with worry.  
  
To everone's surprise, TK actually laughed. "I'm fine Matt! Just fine!"  
  
Kari looked at him. "Why'd you protect me if you knew you'd probably get hurt?"  
  
TK looked at her, that solomn, grown-up look in his azure eyes again, and he whispered softly enough so that the other two couldn't hear.  
  
"By my life or death, I swear I'll protect you Hikari Kamiya, now and forever."  
  
And he did.  
  
()()()()()  
  
You can tell I totally suck at battle scenes...  
  
Kawaii-chan: You notice that you mentioned all the DDs at some point except Izzy?  
  
No, not really...  
  
Kawaii-chan: *exhasperated sigh* Whatever... I'm gonna go find Took...  
  
M'kay! Bye! 


End file.
